 Bottom sirloin triangular cut (tri-tip) | |
| Alternative names | Bottom sirloin triangular cut (tri-tip) |
|---|---|
| Type | Beef steak |
The tri-tip is a triangular cut of beef from the bottom sirloin subprimal cut, consisting of the tensor fasciae latae muscle. Untrimmed, the tri-tip weighs around 5 pounds. [1] In the US, the tri-tip is taken from NAMP cut 185C.
The term "tri-tip" is used across the US, but is especially popular in California. [2] The precise origin of the name for this cut of beef is unclear, with several sources claiming original usage of the term. This cut of beef has been referred to by a variety of names including "Newport steak”, [3] "Santa Maria steak”, "triangle tip”, and "triangle steak”.
The cut was known in the United States as early as 1915, called "the triangle part" of the loin butt. [4] Rondo (Ron) Brough, a butcher for the US Army during World War II working in Southern California, claimed that he created the "triangle tip" cut as a way to gain an extra portion of meat for the troops by reorienting nearby cuts and eliminating scrap. This practice caught on with Brough's Army colleagues and after the War, they began cutting and serving triangle tip throughout restaurants and butcher shops in California.
Otto Schaefer Sr. originally named and marketed tri-tip in Oakland, California, in the 1950s. [5]
Butcher and restaurateur [6] Jack Ubaldi claimed to have originally named and marketed tri-tip under the name "Newport steak" in the 1950s. [3]
Triangle tip, cooked in wine, was served at Jack's Corsican Room in Long Beach in 1955. [7] The cut was marketed under the name "tri-tip" as early as 1964, at Desert Provisions in Palm Springs. [8]
Larry Viegas, a butcher at a Santa Maria Safeway store in the late 1950s, claimed that the idea to cook this as a distinct cut of beef first occurred to his store manager, Bob Schutz, when an excess of hamburger existed in the store (into which this part of the animal were usually ground). [9] Viegas says that Schultz took a piece of the unwanted meat, seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic salt, and placed it on a rotisserie for 45 minutes or an hour; the result was well-received, and Schultz began marketing the cut as "tri-tip". [9]
It became a local specialty in Santa Maria in the late 1950s. [9] Today, it is seasoned with salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and other seasonings, grilled directly over red oak wood to medium-rare doneness. Alternative preparations include roasting whole on a rotisserie, smoking in a pit, roasting in an oven, grilling, or braising in a Dutch oven after searing on a grill. After cooking, the meat is normally sliced across the grain before serving. [10]
Sometimes labeled "Santa Maria steak", the roast is popular in the Central Valley regions and the Central Coast of California. [11] Along with top sirloin, tri-tip is considered central to Santa Maria-style barbecue. In central California, the fat is left on the outside of the cut to enhance flavor when grilling, while butchers elsewhere trim the fat side for aesthetic purposes.
Tri-tip is called aiguillette baronne in France and is left whole as a roast. [12] In northern Germany, it is called Bürgermeisterstück or Pastorenstück, in Austria Hüferschwanz, and in southern Germany it is called the same name as the traditional and popular Bavarian and Austrian dish Tafelspitz , which serves it boiled with horseradish. In Spain, it is often grilled whole and called the rabillo de cadera.
In Argentine asado , it is known as colita de cuadril. [13] In Brazil, it is known as maminha.
This cut of beef can be sliced into steaks, grilled in its entirety, or used in chili con carne. [14] To grill or roast the tri-tip, heat the pan on high until it is very hot. The roast can then be put in the oven and cooked for about 10 minutes per pound until the internal temperature is 130–135 °F (54–57 °C) for medium-rare. [15]
Grilling is a form of cooking that involves heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat and vegetables quickly. Food to be grilled is cooked on a grill, using a cast iron/frying pan, or a grill pan.
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least 150 °C (300 °F) from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization and Maillard browning on the surface of the food. Roasting uses indirect, diffused heat, and is suitable for slower cooking of meat in a larger, whole piece. Meats and most root and bulb vegetables can be roasted. Any piece of meat, especially red meat, that has been cooked in this fashion is called a roast. Meats and vegetables prepared in this way are described as "roasted", e.g., roasted chicken or roasted squash.
A beefsteak, often called just steak, is a flat cut of beef with parallel faces, usually cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers. In common restaurant service a single serving has a raw mass ranging from 120 to 600 grams. Beef steaks are usually grilled, pan-fried, or broiled. The more tender cuts from the loin and rib are cooked quickly, using dry heat, and served whole. Less tender cuts from the chuck or round are cooked with moist heat or are mechanically tenderized.
Asado is the technique and the social event of having or attending a barbecue in various South American countries: especially Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay where it is also a traditional event. An asado usually consists of beef, pork, chicken, chorizo, and morcilla; all of which are cooked using an open fire or a grill, called a parrilla. Usually, red wine and side dishes such as salads accompany the main meats, which are prepared by a designated cook called the asador or parrillero.
Roast chicken is chicken prepared as food by roasting whether in a home kitchen, over a fire, or with a rotisserie. Generally, the chicken is roasted with its own fat and juices by circulating the meat during roasting, and therefore, are usually cooked exposed to fire or heat with some type of rotary grill so that the circulation of these fats and juices is as efficient as possible. Roast chicken is a dish that appears in a wide variety of cuisines worldwide.
Rotisserie, also known as spit-roasting, is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit – a long, solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This method is generally used for cooking large joints of meat or entire animals, such as pigs or turkeys. The rotation cooks the meat evenly in its own juices and allows easy access for continuous basting.
Churrasco is the Portuguese and Spanish name for grilled beef prominent in the cuisines of Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, and Argentina. The term is used in other Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries for a variety of different meat products.
London broil is a beef dish made by grilling marinated beef, then cutting it across the grain into thin strips. While the inclusion of "London" in the name may suggest British origins, "broil" is not a common term in UK English, and indeed the dish is American, not British.
Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then served.
Chuck steak is a cut of beef and is part of the sub-prime cut known as the chuck.
Barbecue varies by the type of meat, sauce, rub, or other flavorings used, the point in barbecuing at which they are added, the role smoke plays, the equipment and fuel used, cooking temperature, and cooking time.
A round steak is a beef steak from the "round", the rear leg of the cow. The round is divided into cuts including the eye (of) round, bottom round, and top round, with or without the "round" bone (femur), and may include the knuckle, depending on how the round is separated from the loin. This is a lean cut and it is moderately tough. Lack of fat and marbling makes round dry out when cooked with dry-heat cooking methods like roasting or grilling. Round steak is commonly prepared with slow moist-heat methods including braising, to tenderize the meat and maintain moisture. The cut is often sliced thin, then dried or smoked at low temperature to make jerky.
During butchering, beef is first divided into primal cuts, pieces of meat initially separated from the carcass. These are basic sections from which steaks and other subdivisions are cut. Since the animal's legs and neck muscles do the most work, they are the toughest; the meat becomes more tender as distance from hoof and horn increases.
A rib steak is a beefsteak sliced from the rib primal of a beef animal, with rib bone attached. In the United States, the term rib eye steak is used for a rib steak with the bone removed; however, in some areas, and outside the US, the terms are often used interchangeably. The "rib eye" or "ribeye" was originally, the central portion of the rib steak, without the bone, resembling an eye. The rib steak can also be prepared as a tomahawk steak which requires the butcher to leave the rib bone intact, french trim the bone and leave it at least five inches long. The tomahawk steak resembles the Native American tomahawk axe from which it gets its name.
Flap steak, or flap meat is a beef steak cut from the obliquus internus abdominis muscle of the bottom sirloin. It is generally very thin, fibrous and chewy, but flavorful, and often confused with both skirt steak and hanger steak.
Basting is a cooking technique that involves cooking meat with either its own juices or some type of preparation such as a sauce or marinade. The meat is left to cook, then periodically coated with the juice. Basting is a technique generally known to be used for turkey, pork, chicken, duck, and beef, but may be applied to virtually any type of meat.
Santa Maria–style barbecue is a regional culinary tradition rooted in the Santa Maria Valley in Santa Barbara County on the Central Coast of California. This method of barbecuing dates back to the mid-19th century and is today regarded as a "mainstay of California's culinary heritage". The traditional Santa Maria-style barbecue menu was copyrighted by the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce in 1978.
A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, such as hamburgers.
The bottom sirloin steak is a steak cut from the back of the animal below top sirloin and above the flank. This cut can also be referred to as sirloin butt and thick flank. The meat is further cut into three different portions called ball tip, tri-tip and flap steak for consumption. Ball tip cuts are used for common steaks in restaurants and are often advertised as sirloin. Tri-tip is found in roasts or used for barbecue since it is common for it to be cooked over long periods of time. Flap portions are found in hamburger meat or can be made into stews or even fajitas since it is too tough to be used in steaks.
Giacomo "Jack" Ubaldi was an Italian-American butcher and chef. Ubaldi is credited for the selection, marketing and sale of bottom sirloin subprimal cuts in New York City as the "Newport steak."
